Labour and the Green Party are deliberately scaremongering by pretending, in leaflets they have been delivering in many areas, that there is a Conservative plan to have an incinerator in the Croydon area. There isn’t. Labour claims that it is opposing the building of an incinerator on the edge of Waddon, which we are supporting. In fact, exactly the opposite is true!
National legislation is compelling every local authority to produce a future waste reduction plan. That is perfectly sensible, and we wholeheartedly support any initiative to reduce the waste we can’t recycle.
In fact, Croydon’s Conservative councillors have an excellent track record on improving recycling since they took control of the Council in 2006. Under Labour, we had one of the worst recycling records in the country, reusing a meagre 16% of our waste. Under the Conservatives, in just three years we have nearly doubled that (it’s now 28%). But the problem remains: what do we do with the waste which can’t be recycled, such as food waste?
As part of the waste plan the Government requires us to draw up, we must look at all the available options for our waste disposal. By law, the council has to include the possibility of using all the current sites used for waste disposal and also look for any other sites which are suitable. The council is also not allowed to rule out any individual technology. That’s under Labour’s own rules!
Croydon Conservatives believe that incineration will never be a sensible option in this densely populated part of the country and have already made it very clear that we will not introduce an incinerator (or an incinerator by another name) anywhere in the borough whilst we are in control.
Labour’s position is rather different. The Labour Government supports incineration and Croydon North MP, Malcolm Wicks, actually forced one on the people of Bexley in 2006 when he was Energy Minister, in spite of strong local protests. That’s the same Malcolm Wicks who is appearing in all Labour’s leaflets opposing this fictional ‘incinerator for Croydon’ plan.
Labour’s hypocrisy on this issue is absolutely breathtaking. They know Croydon Conservatives have promised that we will not have an incinerator in Croydon, but they are still trying to frighten people with these scare stories. Shame on them.
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